Call for Carbon Neutrality on Airport
Call for Carbon Neutrality on Airport
The Paraparaumu
Airport Coalition is calling for the Airport development
to
become New Zealand’s first commercial carbon neutral
zone.
Coalition spokesperson Lyndy McIntyre says the
developers should now
initiate urgent action to get a
full, independent, carbon audit and then
compare it with
the carbon output expected from their proposals.
“I am
sure the Kapiti Coast District Council, which is now
committed to a
climate change policy, would back this
measure 100 per cent,” she said.
Ms McIntyre says the
‘Big Box’ proposals of the developers, with
29,000
vehicle movements a day, have serious implications
for the Kapiti Coast’s
carbon levels.
“We urgently
need to start taking this issue very seriously,” she
says,
“particularly as the Kapiti Coast is under threat
from rising sea levels
caused by global warming.”
The
Coalition has also criticised Auckland developer Noel
Robinson’s
inadequate ecological report to the Council
in its proposals for a plan
change at the Airport.
KCDC
Councillor Alan Tristram, convenor of the Airport Coalition,
says it is
ludicrous for Mr Robinson to claim a massive
big box commercial development
is the key to ensuring the
future of an endangered rare orchard species on
the
Airport.
He says the councillors were split evenly on the
issue of allowing this
massive industrial and commercial
development to even go to a hearing.
“If they’d
realised how flaky the ecological report was, the result may
have
been different. After all, only the Mayor’s vote
allowed the project to go
forward,” Cr Tristram
says.
Cr Tristram says an independent carbon audit would
undoubtedly show that
29,000 vehicles a day and massive
earthworks for the Big Box development,
would increase
Kapiti’s carbon footprint.
“It’s really silly to
claim that this development is positive for
the
environment and will save the orchid,” he says,
“when it is likely to
destroy much of the present
coastal environment and lifestyle at
Paraparaumu
Beach.”
ENDS